Lesson 11: Audiences and the Portfolio Submission
Media Studies · Unit 5 · Lesson 11 of 16 · ← L10 | L12 →
At a glance
| Days | 6 — Mon+Tue block, Wed double, Fri (A3 due), then Mon + Tue |
| Dates | Mon 2026-11-23 · Tue 11-24 · Wed 11-25 · Fri 11-27 · Mon 11-30 · Tue 12-01 |
| Band/Unit | U5 Media Contexts (S1 Unit 5) |
| AO focus | AO2 + AO3 (A3, scaled to 50) |
| Deliverable | A3 portfolio submitted Fri 11-27 (product, CCR, blog); feedback-response target set day 6 (LB4) |
| Feeds | Component 1 grade; Semester 2 production targets |
| Homework | None across the submission; feedback response after |
Goal
This lesson closes the Component 1 arc and begins audience theory. The Wednesday double is the last time you can get help on your portfolio before it goes in, so it is spent on CCR support. On Friday the portfolio is submitted with no edits after. The two days after Friday cover uses and gratifications applied to your own media use, then turn your returned portfolio into one production target for Semester 2.
How it runs
D1 — Mon 11-23: mass, niche, target
- Starter (5 min) — three real texts on screen (a CCTV gala, a bilibili niche channel, a K-pop comeback teaser). One question: who is each one for — everyone, someone, or you specifically?
- Input (15 min) — mass, niche, and target audiences; demographics vs psychographics; why “everyone” is almost always a wrong answer and why advertisers pay for the difference.
- Mapping (20 min) — in pairs, profile the three texts’ audiences using evidence from the texts themselves (address, platform, scheduling, ad breaks).
- Close (5 min) — whose audience did your C1 product actually reach, per the screening cards?
D2 — Tue 11-24: what effects models can’t explain
- Retrieval (5 min) — mass/niche/target, one example each.
- Input (15 min) — effects models stated fairly (hypodermic, cultivation), then their limits: what they cannot explain about this class’s own viewing — the horror fan who sleeps fine, the ad seen a hundred times that never sold anything.
- The counter-evidence log (20 min) — each student contributes one honest example of media that failed to affect them as the model predicts, and one that worked. The pattern: audiences do things with media; media does not simply do things to audiences.
- Close (5 min) — that sentence is Blumler and Katz’s cue, held for Monday.
D3 — Wed 11-25 (double): CCR support before submission
- Brief application (15 min) — one audiences exercise: the coursebook §6.7 screening-feedback activity applied to two volunteers’ near-final products.
- The surgery (60 min) — the last help window before submission. Students are seen in order of feedback severity, not hand-raising; every student is seen, and stronger drafts get peer support rather than teacher time. Each visit ends with one fix done, not promised.
- The checklist (15 min) — run the submission checklist: product exported and playable; CCR in its creative format, posted; blog complete, posts dated, contributions labeled; URLs correct.
D4 — Fri 11-27: A3 goes in
- Submission protocol (25 min) — final checks against the checklist; URLs and files logged in the submission sheet; confirmation shown on screen per group. No edits after — this is absolute.
- The exhale (15 min) — quiet start on the uses-and-gratifications pre-read (coursebook §5.3). Nothing due.
D5 — Mon 11-30: Blumler and Katz
- Input (15 min) — the four gratifications: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, surveillance. Audiences as active choosers with jobs they need media to do.
- The honest map (20 min) — map your own real weekly media use onto the four gratifications. The comfort re-watch and the 2 a.m. scroll are data, not confessions.
- Close (10 min) — theory card: Blumler & Katz. Write one sentence: which gratification does your own C1 product serve, and how would you know?
D6 — Tue 12-01: the return, and the target
- A3 returned (25 min) — self-assessment first: band your own portfolio against the C1 criteria before marks are discussed; then your marked grade, with the gap between self-band and mark as the conversation.
- The target (15 min) — write one production target — specific and evidenced from the feedback, achievable in S2 (“hold focus in low light” beats “get better at filming”) — logged as LB4.
- (5 min) — next assessment: Wed 12-16, Component 2 Section A in authentic format.
Assessment
| Item | Date | What | AO |
|---|---|---|---|
| A3 | Fri 2026-11-27 | C1 portfolio complete — product + CCR + dated blog; official C1 criteria (AO2 20 + AO3 80, scaled to 50); no edits after | AO2+AO3 |
| LB4 | Tue 2026-12-01 | Response to feedback: one specific, evidenced production target | — |
A3 is returned Tue 12-01. See the full register.